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THE EFFECTS OF LIKEABILITY ON CONSUMERS' CHOICE BEHAVIOUR A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masterate of Business Studies at Massey University Nifky Lynch 2001 Department of Marketing Massey University Supervisor: Dr. Janet Hoek Adviser: Prof. Phillip Gendall 1
ABSTRACT The persuasive abilities of advertising and therefore, advertising effectiveness, have been discussed extensively in advertising literature. In particular, the components that make an advertisement effective have intrigued both advertisers and advertising agencies over the past three decades. Likeability of advertising is suggested to be a key indicator of advertising effectiveness (Haley & Baldinger, 1991) yet, the literature in this area concentrates on establishing what likeability is rather than exploring the effect of likeability on consumers' behaviour. Given the level of interest that has been driven by claims that likeability can heighten the persuasiveness of an advertisement, it seems pertinent to investigate the effect of likeability on consumer behaviour. The research reported in this thesis examined the effect of more and less likeable images on consumers' choice behaviour. The data for this research was obtained from a cross-sectional survey in which choice modelling techniques were used to establish consumers' choice behaviour. This data was used to investigate the effects of likeable images on consumers' choice behaviour for the product category of milk. Overall, it was found that advertisement likeability had a very weak effect on consumers' choice behaviour. Furthermore, it was established that the type of milk variant was the most influential attribute in determining consumers' choice behaviour. Price was also an important factor although this attribute was far less influential than the type of milk attribute. However, the research found some support for idea that likeability enhances the salience of advertising, as likeability did improve the salience of the advertisements for different groups of consumers within the sample. The main implication that arises from this study is that likeable advertisements do not necessarily lead to consumers changing their purchasing behaviour. Likeability is one of many measures of effective advertising and does not appear to command more attention than any other measure of effective advertising. 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Janet Hoek, for her guidance and direction I would also like to thank my family and friends who have supported me during my time at Massey. 3
CONTENTS ABSTRACT... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... 3 LIST OFT ABLES... 6 LIST OF FIGURES... 7 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION... 8 1.1 Objectives Of The Current Study... 10 CHAPTER TWO: INFORMATION PROCESSING... 11 2.1 Models Of Information Processing... 11 2.2 Memory... 18 2.3 Attitude... 22 2.4 Attitudes As Predictors Of Behaviour... 25 2.5 Chapter Surnrnary.................. 26 CHAPTER THREE: ADVERTISING THEORY... 29 3.2 The Role Played By Advertising In Attitude Formation... 31 3.3 The Role Of Advertising In Persuasion... 39 3.4 Implications For Likeability And How It Fits Into Both Theories... 40 3.5 Chapter Surnrnary... 41 CHAPTER FOUR: LIKEABILITY... 44 4.1 What Is Likeability?... 45 4.2 How Likeability Works... 51 4.3 Likeability And Persuasion... 56 CHAPTER FIVE: METHODOLOGY... 64 5.1 Pilot Study... 64 5.2 Sample... 66 5.3 Instrument.... 67 4
CHAPTER SIX: RES UL TS AND DISCUSSION... 70 6.1 Consumers' Choice Behaviour... 70 6.2 Full Fat Mi1k C1uster... 71 6.3 Calci-Trim Milk Cluster... 77 6.4 Semi-Skim Milk Cluster... 83 6.5 Explanations For The Results... 87 6.6 Explanations For The Lack Of Likeability Effects... 90 6.7 Chapter Summary... 92 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSIONS... 94 7.1 Conclusions... 94 7.2 Implications... 94 7.3 Summary... 97 7.4 Limitations...... 97 7.5 Directions For Future Research... 98 REFERENCES... 100 APPENDICES... 108 APPENDIX A - Pilot Study Questionnaire... 109 APPENDIX B - Main Study Questionnaire... 113 APPENDIX C - Show Cards For Main Study... 117 APPENDIX D - Bones Advertisement... 119 APPENDIX E - Photo Advertisement... 120 APPENDIX F - Response Rate... 121 APPENDIX G - Showcards For Full Questionnaire... 122 5
LIST OF TABLES Table I: Four Types of Potential Attitude Formation Resulting From Processing an Advertisement... 24 Table 2: Likeability Attributes... 47 Table 3: Percentage of the time that winning commercials were picked... 57 Table 4: Re-evaluation of CRVP copy test measures... 60 Table 5: Attribute scores of advertisement versions... 65 Table 6. Comparison of Versions E and B... 66 Table 7. Effect of product attributes on consumers' choice behaviour.... 70 Table 8. Main effects model: full fat milk cluster.... 71 Table 9. Attribute effects: full fat milk cluster.... 72 Table 10. Likeability attribute scores: full fat milk... 75 Table 11. Main effects model: Calci-Trim milk... 77 Table 12. Attribute effects: Calci-trim...... 78 Table 13. Likeability attribute scores: Calci-Trim... 81 Table 14. Main effects model: semi-skim milk... 83 Table 15. Effects of attributes on choice behaviour: Semi-skim... 84 Table 16. Likeability attribute scores: Semi-skim... 86 6
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Hierarchy of effects model... 13 Figure 2: Elaboration Likelihood Model..... 15 Figure 3: Hypothesis on the casual role of attitude towards the advertisement..... 33 Figure 4: Model of the effect of feelings on attitude toward the brand... 37 Figure 5: Showcard A... 68 Figure 6: Full fat cluster utilities... 73 Figure 7: Calci-trirn cluster utilities... 80 7